Friday’s (April 20) crime drama caught the region’s attention. Apparently, a lone gunman shot at West Sacramento citizens and police, rammed a patrol car, caused at least one other car crash. He carjacked several vehicles, beat up a birdwatcher, and eventually was cornered in a Sacramento apartment, where he refused to surrender.

Finally, the suspect was shot and killed by deputies.

Amid all that action, there were certainly a lot of chances for other people to get killed or badly hurt, but none were. It sure could have been a lot worse.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to watch the actions of law enforcement be dissected and analyzed – the length of time they kept I-80 closed for public safety, the final decision to shoot, and so forth. There will be lessons to learn for next time.
______________________________
When the River City High School football team had a breakout season a couple of years ago, winning nearly every regular-season game and making it to the playoffs for the first time in what seemed like forever, West Sacramento got excited.

The community paid attention to the winning season, and the city council even presented the team with a proclamation.

This year, the school’s girls’ basketball team had its own breakout season, going 27-4 overall after a near-perfect regular season. They earned their first trip to the playoffs ever.

They deserve a city council plaque, don’t you think?
______________________________

No more capital “I” in internet.

As one more tiny sign of a new era, the News-Ledger is going to try to make a slight change in the spelling of the word “internet” – no longer capitalizing the word like just about everybody did when the darn thing was invented.

And if it seems odd to you that the word ever was capitalized in regular use, just consider that this is a common thing with big new technologies. When that exciting and groundbreaking technology called “Radio” was invented, it also originally came with a capital “R.” Only after people got used to the idea did the “R” shrink.

So spelling the word as “internet” is pretty much an admission it’s been around a while and we’re used to it.

Yes, you can support local journalism, support this website, and see all the News-Ledger’s articles every week! Subscribe to the News-Ledge newspaper. It’s only $20 per year within West Sacramento – once a week, delivered to your mailbox.

You can even try it for free for two months if you live in West Sacramento. Just send your name and mailing address to FreeTrial@news-ledger.com (offer open to new subscribers in West Sacramento ZIP codes 95691 & 95605).

We used to live behind these ponds. When they were drained and graded there were hundreds of shad in them. My understanding is that they ARE linked to the deep water channel directly and serve as an outlet to the channel when rain fall is too high. I could be wrong, but that is what the construction guys told me. I have caught bass, catfish, shad and bluegil […]